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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1986)
Daily Nebraskan Page 9 n. i i n 'Li L u rO i n IL" . lit"' :'- fv4v In in i i-i ii f "T ' ?r ,- ii ...... m : -fc.-g:-. . .V f.:vt & t 4 B m, -:... ". : ft. i. Analysis by Eric Gregory Staff Reporter I always thought bird watchers ere sort of a separate breed. They wear. - lot of tweed, eat granola for breakfast and carry those funny looking walking sticks that fold into chairs. But DN photographer Mark Davi3 assured me Ihit the UNL recreation department's "Cirds! E;rd:! Dirds!" trip was an event vf couldn't miss. The brochure promised a weekend cf canoe . ing and a char.es to see "the dramatic annual gathering thousands cf water fowl on the Platte River." Between some gibberish about sand hill cranes and condors, Davis con vinced me to go. A quick call to the rec department reserved us space on the trip. On the evening of Friday, March 7, we were in the rec department, pack ing our gear into waterproof sacks and packing the sacks into rubberized "Bill's Bags" (for the first half of the trip I thought they were saying Bilge Bags). , The other 'campers were all there when we arrived, and I was glad that they looked like regular people, not the whok-grala yogurt suckers I had expes ted , ' towing seven crj,oeswest on Interstate i ' 80, It was a las f, van ride bit fkvfs zr.i ' I passed ttteHtoe fey t&M?4 to the tlhctcmims, I decided iltey werettt : hid in cur final sbpj-IIos at the York . Bottle Shoppe.- We left with a plethora . to TJ Ssran to Two Fingers Tequila. I think we made the owner's night. Any lingering doubts I might cf had about my Mlow campers were put to rest . Now fully provisioned, we pushed on to our evening's destination, the Bass way Strip Wildlife Management Area which, though you won't find it on the map, is near Kearney, It was dark when we arrived, but with a little help, we got our tent set up while someone else started a campfire. Someone pointed out a few constel lations, we talked about Ilalley's Comet a.id pitied around the campfire. The campfire talk was top-notch, I felt right at home. We talked about other trips, about beer, which of course led to vomit stories, which somehow led to stories about dissecting animals. And there were the inevitable marsh w allows. One camper said, "You'd ex pect to find some mallow in marshmai lows wouldn't you?" I'd never really thought about it before, but it made sense. "You'd think they came from mallow trees that grow in a marsh somewhere, right?" he went on, ''But no..."As he began to read the list of ingredients, another camper held his marshmallow in the flame and watched it slowly burn into a black molten blob. Seconds later I felt something plop onto my leg. Look ing down to see a splotch of black and white, I thought maybe the cranes were flying overhead, and I got excited. Then I realized it was just the molten mallow from someone's roasting stick. It was cold out. After two people scooted close enough to the fire to melt to h.U ths sack. Bat before vd mt to bed we laid out a pters for a dr&a&tic viewing of th. Rir&ti3 cranes, We would get up at 4 &x3. rid h& m the rser by 5 $m m That waywe ccu'J paddle car canoes : riht i::to the midst of th cranes u thejIept When the sub rose hundreds of them vrou'd wake up and take to the sir all at once, making for seme stun The extreme cold forced me to wear almost everything I had to bed. I'd never slept with a stocking cap and gloves on before. Anytime you go camping with a group there is always one person who overindulges and spends half the night making peace with Ms stomach. I've been that person more than once. ---...-ylt,. . I ' -.mm.. , iri r (From lapt3 bctbrnXA i hl'l ercnt prepsres to tsk to Qrfst ' G3 ccnocs sstyr ' lit Ricrrstng faeffiop; Osf CiucfwT fcpf is ficr cnothcr c:.no? is drenched In py; fcy a trailer fcrfcrs fc:;n3 pse'vs-cf; A d:acl trs dams a I llllllIlpS Marli Day la'